Matthew 13 and verse number 47,
again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net
that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind,
which when it was full they drew to shore
and sat down and gathered the good into vessels,
but cast the bad away.
So shall it be at the end of the world
the angels shall come forth and sever
the wicked from among the just,
and shall cast them into a furnace of fire,
there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth,
and shall be cast into the furnace of fire,
and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
The title for the sermon this morning is
Hell and the Lake of Fire, Hell and the Lake of Fire.
And you know, the topic of hell,
I think most of you understand this doctrine,
it's not the most pleasant thing,
in fact it's probably the saddest thing
to read about in the Bible,
I would say it's the saddest thing to read about the Bible.
It's not necessarily pleasant to hear,
it's not necessarily pleasant to preach,
but it is a very important Bible doctrine
that needs to be preached.
You know, I grew up going to a Baptist Union church
when I was a child, and one thing,
and there were some good lessons of course
being taught behind the pulpit there,
but one thing that even my parents would often comment
and say, why doesn't the pastor ever preach about hell?
Okay, and you know most churches
do not want to preach about hell, okay?
And look, and maybe the sermon this morning
is a sermon that you're gonna say,
you know what, I didn't like that sermon.
And you might say, well I don't know
if I want to be in this church,
if I'm hearing sermons that I don't like.
You know, make sure that when you decide
to be part of a church, or you decide
what sermons you're going to absorb,
make sure you don't decide on whether you liked the sermon
or whether you did not like the sermon,
that's not the determining factor.
The determining factor is, is this preaching
coming from God's word, or is it not coming from God's word?
Look, if it's not coming from God's word,
then yeah, get out of that church.
You want to be in God's house to hear God's word.
But even if you don't like a sermon,
if you don't hear like a certain type of topic,
but you know it's coming from God's word,
then you need to hear it.
Hey, before we preach, what did we sing?
We sang about God's words,
more to be desired a day than gold,
much more than fine gold,
sweeter also than honey on the honeycomb.
We sang that, do you mean it though?
You know, when we hit a topic like hell,
or things that we don't really necessarily like to hear,
do you find it sweeter than honey?
That's how we ought to find it.
Every doctrine, every word of God is pure.
Every word of God is necessary for us to grow thereby.
You can see that the Lord Christ is teaching us
a lesson here, that there's coming a time
when those that have done wicked,
they're gonna be severed from among the unjust
and cast them into a furnace of fire.
You see, we don't believe in a hypothetical hell.
We will say, well, maybe hell is just,
maybe hell is just separation from God.
Maybe hell is just a place that you go
and you cease to exist.
Or some people teach that, well, hell is really,
if your life is falling apart on this earth,
you're experiencing hell on earth.
No, no, no, we believe in a literal hell,
a literal furnace of fire,
where if you die without Christ,
you're gonna spend eternity in that place,
being tormented day and night forever and ever.
Yes, by the flames, yes, by the thirst
that you're going to suffer in that time.
And so we're going through our statement of faith
and I do believe, I could have covered this topic
a little bit earlier in our statement of faith,
but under hell and the lake of fire,
we're gonna have these words.
We believe that the souls of sinners
who never trusted in Christ Jesus
are cast into a literal hell upon death,
where they remain in torment,
reserved unto the day of judgment to be punished.
You say, hold on, aren't they being punished
in hell already, yes,
but there's a further punishment to come.
They're reserved unto this punishment
because at the judgment,
it continues in our statement of faith,
at the judgment, all who are not found written
in the book of life is then cast into the lake of fire,
where hell has been relocated,
a place of everlasting torment.
Does that sound like a pleasant topic to preach about?
As a pastor, this is not my favorite topic.
In fact, it makes me emotional
because we all have loved ones.
We all have family and friends
that have not trusted in Christ
or are yet not trusted in Christ.
And to think about where they're gonna be for eternity
or where they are currently today, it's a sad thing.
It's not always a pleasant thing to think about,
but we must preach about it.
We must hear about it.
The fires of hell should bring forth a fire within us,
a desire to win souls to Christ
so they would not have to experience this eternal judgment,
eternal punishment in the lake of fire.
Now, is this an important doctrine?
Well, you're there in Matthew 13.
After Jesus Christ finished saying that in verse 50,
look what he asks his disciples.
Jesus saith unto them,
have ye understood all these things?
They say unto him, yea, Lord.
Look, we need to understand the doctrine of hell.
We need to understand it.
We can't just ignore it.
We can't, well, I don't wanna hear it, pastor,
because I don't wanna think about my loved ones.
Jesus Christ asked his disciples,
have ye understood all these things?
They said unto him, yea, Lord.
If you understand hell, you understand eternal torments,
then you're going to understand the importance
of preaching the gospel.
If you can't understand hell, you don't wanna hear hell,
then preaching the gospel
is gonna be a low priority on your list, okay?
Now, let's keep going there.
Let's actually note, sorry, Matthew 13.
Let's just backtrack a little bit to verse number 38.
Matthew 13, you're there.
Let's backtrack to verse number 38.
It says, the field is the world.
Jesus Christ has given us all these parables here
in Matthew 13, teaching us some greater truths.
The field is the world.
The good seed are the children of the kingdom.
If you're saved today, you are part of that good seed, okay?
But the tares are the children of the wicked one.
The wicked one, of course, is the devil.
Because it says in verse number 39,
the enemy that sowed them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the world,
and the reapers are the angels.
As therefore the tares are gathered
and burned in the fire,
so shall it be in the end of this world.
You see, we believe in a literal fire.
The angels are gonna come and gather, the wicked.
They're gonna gather those
that are not children of the kingdom.
They're gonna be gathered,
and they're gonna be burned in the fire.
Verse number 41.
The son of man shall send forth his angels,
and they shall gather out of his kingdom
all things that offend,
and them which do iniquity,
and shall cast them into a furnace of fire.
There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Again, we see multiple times
that hell is referred to a place of fire,
a furnace of fire, a place where there is wailing.
Wailing is just a weeping and crying
and being in torment and a gnashing of teeth,
the clenching of teeth, going through pain.
You guys might maybe have hurt.
You've walked, and you stub your toe,
and you're like, ah, and you're clenching your teeth,
and you're trying to hold that pain,
and that's what hell is gonna be like for all eternity.
Have you ever burnt yourself?
And the pain and the boils that come on that pain,
like you're trying to run cold water
after you've burnt yourself,
and it still burns,
and you take your hand off the water just briefly,
and that pain persists, and it brings tears to your eyes.
Imagine having to face that every day,
every day for all eternity.
There's a burning, there's a wailing,
there's a gnashing of teeth.
Why would we want anybody going to such a place?
But this is the reality.
Most people are going to hell.
Broad is the way that leads to destruction,
which Jesus Christ taught us.
There'll be few that find the straight and narrow gate.
It's so strange.
It almost doesn't make sense to know
that the narrow way is a free gift.
It's a free gift paid for by Jesus Christ.
And the broad way is your efforts.
Most people try to go to heaven based on their own efforts,
but it is the broad way.
Every religion besides biblical Christianity teaches
it's your efforts, it's your works,
it's your cleaning up your life,
it's your holy living that is accounted
for you unto salvation.
That is the broad way.
The narrow way is, look, you're not good enough.
You need Jesus Christ.
And so as we look at this topic of hell,
there's two responses that I want from you.
Number one, if you're not saved, get saved.
You don't want to go to hell.
What for?
When salvation is easy.
People sometimes, you know, what we believe
that salvation is paid for by Jesus Christ,
they say, oh, you believe in cheap grace.
No, we don't.
We don't believe in cheap grace.
If grace was cheap, it's still too expensive.
We believe in free grace.
Grace actually defines itself as being free.
We believe that salvation is free.
It's been paid for completely by Jesus Christ.
Even if salvation was cheap, it's still too expensive.
You can't afford it anyway if it's cheap.
Okay, it's free grace.
Why would you reject a free gift, you know?
And it's so hard for us to comprehend
that most people, they can't accept it to be free.
They say, oh, I've got to do something.
I've got to pay my way there.
Pay your way, you're going to end up in hell.
Come with me to Luke chapter 16.
Luke chapter 16.
And we're looking at the story
of the rich man that went to hell.
This is a very unique story
because we don't have, I mean, this is the only story,
really, that we have of somebody suffering in hellfire.
Okay?
And even though Jesus Christ came teaching in parables,
this story is not a parable.
This story is real life.
This is about real people.
We have names of people.
In fact, Abraham even appears in this story.
And we know that Abraham was a real,
historical, literal figure, important figure of the Bible.
This is a real scenario.
Luke 16 verse 19.
There was a certain rich man
which was clothed in purple and fine linen
and fed sumptuously every day.
And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus
which was laid at his gates full of sores.
So we're going to hear this story about this rich man
and this poor man, this poor beggar.
Verse number 21.
And desiring to be fed with the crumbs
which fell from the rich man's table,
moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.
So I mean, this man's not in a good place, you know?
Verse number 22.
And it came to pass that the beggar died.
And look at this.
And was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.
The rich man also died and was buried.
You know, if you're saved,
we learned something amazing here,
that if you're saved and you pass on,
the angels are going to carry your soul.
Okay?
They come and carry you away.
The rich man also died and was buried.
We don't have him being recorded
being carried by the angels here.
But instead, in verse number 23, it says,
and in hell, and in hell, he lifted up his eyes.
Been in torments.
You know, there was one time that I burnt myself.
I was going to run a shower as a kid.
I was running a shower.
And I only ran hot water.
Because, you know, it takes a while
for the hot water to come.
I just ran hot water, not cold water.
And the tub was filling up.
And for some reason, I got distracted.
I forgot that I didn't put cold water.
It was just boiling hot water.
It wasn't, you know, it wasn't boiling.
But it was hot water, right?
And I just kind of forgot about it.
And I just stepped into that water.
Like that.
And for a moment, maybe two seconds, I would say,
I felt no pain.
It felt, in fact, I stepped in and go, this is cold.
What happened to the hot water?
And then all of a sudden, ah!
Oh man, what?
I put my foot out.
My foot's red.
And I realized, oh, this is so hot.
I mean, it's so hot that my senses did not register
how hot it was.
But when this man enters hell,
he's immediately in torments.
He's immediately suffering.
Do you see that?
It says, and in hell, he lift up his eyes,
being in torments.
How sad.
Someone that dies without Jesus Christ.
As soon as they close their eyes and open their eyes
in eternity, they're in torments, immediately.
Being in torments.
And see if Abraham are far off and Lazarus in his bosom.
Remember, Lazarus was carried into Abraham's bosom.
Okay, so when Lazarus is taken,
he's been embraced by Abraham.
Okay, and he sees Lazarus and Abraham there
holding this beggar.
Comforting this beggar.
Then he says in verse number 24,
and he cried and said, Father Abraham,
have mercy on me.
So what else did we learn?
When someone is in hell, they're conscious.
They're conscious of what's happening.
Okay, even though they are dead spiritually,
yes, they are dead.
They don't have eternal life,
but they're still aware.
They're still conscious of what they're going through.
Being cast into hell is not the end of a person.
They continue there for all eternity in death,
but consciously in death.
Have mercy on me.
And send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger
in water and cool my tongue,
for I am tormented in this flame.
One thing that I'm going to teach
as we keep going through this sermon
is that there are different levels of punishment in hell.
For those that are excessively wicked,
their punishment in hell is going to be much worse.
This man is able to communicate.
Okay, this man obviously did not believe in Christ,
but he probably wasn't excessively wicked
in comparison to others,
where he can still communicate to some extent.
You know, he's still able to communicate
even in the midst of torments.
But hell can be much more worse.
Okay, this is just,
I think we're probably looking at the softest,
and even then, the man's in torments.
Even that man is in flame.
That man is thirsty.
He's asking just a tip of water of his finger.
I mean, how would that come,
would that comfort you really?
If you're thirsty, if you're so thirsty,
is just a drip of water on your tongue gonna satisfy you?
It's not gonna satisfy you.
But in hell, just a drop of water,
you know, could give some,
you'd think it'd give you some level of relief.
But the man's been tormented in the flames.
I mean, even if hypothetically
you could get some water down there,
it's gonna be evaporated before it even reaches anybody
in any way in the flames.
Verse number 25,
But Abraham said, Son, remember thou in thy lifetime.
Let me stop there for a moment.
Abraham calls him son.
Now, if you have the faith of faithful Abraham,
okay, the Bible tells us that we're children of Abraham.
But he refers to this man as his son.
And we know this man is not saved,
that's why it's in hell.
So this is a man who is physical descendant of Abraham.
Not spiritually descendants,
because he did not have the faith of Abraham.
But is a Jewish man, he's an Israelite, okay?
A man who should have received the Messiah.
A man who should have placed their faith on Jesus Christ.
Abraham calls him son,
because he's a physical descendant.
And the reason I say that is because,
and I love my pastors,
but one of my pastors was preaching about the Jews
and I said to my pastor,
I said, but what if they die without Jesus?
Where do they go?
I was like so confused, like of the sermon.
And he said to me, you know, Kevin,
I haven't figured that out yet.
Well, the Bible tells us even the children of Abraham
that die without placing their faith on Jesus Christ
are gonna be tormented in hell fire.
Again, God is not a respecter of persons.
Verse number 25, but Abraham said son,
remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things
and likewise Lazarus evil things,
but now he is comforted and thou art tormented.
You know, there are a lot of you that have gotten saved
because you've had a bad life.
There are a lot of you that have been,
have gone through hardships and heartache
and maybe even today you think,
I wish I didn't have to go through that,
but you know, through that heartache,
it's probably what caused you to be humble enough
to reach out to God and say, God,
if you're out there, teach me.
If you're out there, Lord, save me.
I wanna know.
I wanna know how to be right with you.
I wanna know that I'm going to heaven.
Be thankful for the anguish that you've gone through
because he may very well have been the journey
that's led you to Christ.
This rich man had everything, everything going for him.
I mean, this rich man represents the Sunshine Coast.
People here live in the most beautiful place on the earth.
They've got money.
They've got riches.
They're retired.
They go on holidays.
And that's why we go knock the doors
and they're so unreceptive
because they don't need the Lord, they think.
And that's what the rich man represents.
He's had a great life.
He's never had to suffer and reach out to the Lord.
Verse number 26, and beside all this,
between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed
so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot,
neither can they pass to us.
That would come from hence, from thence.
Nothing we learn about hell.
Once you're there, you're not getting out.
There's no way out.
But once you die and you go to hell, that's it.
You're done for.
There's no purgatory.
There's no purgatory where it's a halfway hell
like the Catholics teach where you burn off your sins
and then once they're all burnt off,
then you can go into heaven.
No, once you go to a place of fire and torment, that's it.
You can't pass from there.
Verse number 27, and this is what touches me the most.
And let this be a reminder to you,
if you have loved ones, family and friends
that have died without Jesus,
and it's hard it is for you to accept
that they're burning in hell right now,
please don't forget this part, okay?
Because what is it that people in hell want the most?
Besides being, besides having relief,
which they're not gonna get,
but what is it they want the most,
being tormented in hell?
Verse number 27, then he said,
I pray thee therefore, Father,
that thou wouldst send him to my father's house,
for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them,
lest they also come into this place of torment.
What do people in hell want the most?
They don't want their loved ones to come to the same place.
He says, Abraham, can you just send Lazarus back
to go and preach to my brothers,
so they don't come here with me to this same place?
On last Saturday, I saw one lady that I spoke to,
she was ready to get saved like that.
And I started to give her, I started to explain to her,
are you 100% sure you're going to heaven?
She said, no.
She goes, I'd like to,
because I've got loved ones that have died.
I don't know where they are, I don't know where I'm going,
I'd like to know.
And I said to her, look, and I've used this many times,
and let me encourage you,
because sometimes people are like,
I don't want to hear that,
because my loved one just passed away.
You know, sometimes people don't want to accept the gospel,
because by understanding that it's by Christ alone,
they then have to accept in their mind that that therefore,
if this is the truth, therefore my mom and dad
who have passed on, they're in hell right now.
But their mom and dad in hell right now, what do they want?
They want their child saved.
And so I said to this lady,
look, I don't know where your loved ones are,
but I do know, wherever they are,
they want you to know what you must do to be saved.
And she had tears in her eyes,
and I was able to give her the gospel when she got saved.
Okay?
So, you know, as sad as it is to understand,
and my family and friends are in hell,
burning in hell right now,
and I don't want to think about it past, all right,
but what do they want?
They want you to go out and preach the gospel
to the rest of the family,
so they don't have to come to the same place.
There's nothing that we can do
for those that have gone to hell.
That's it.
That's their eternal place.
The best we can do for them
is to go and preach the gospel to others.
And how do we preach the gospel?
Abraham gives us how, basically,
it says in verse number 29,
Abraham's safe unto him.
They have Moses and the prophets,
and let them hear them.
In other words, God is not going to raise someone
from the dead to go and preach to your loved ones.
He says they've got Moses and the prophets.
They've got the scriptures.
To preach the gospel means we have to open God's word
and show them how to be saved.
Verse number 30, and he said,
"'Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them
"'from the dead, they will repent,' they think.
"'If they see a miracle, surely then they'll repent.'"
Verse number 31, and he said unto them,
"'If they hear not Moses and the prophets,
"'neither will they be persuaded,
"'though one rose from the dead.'"
The greatest power to get someone saved,
don't forget, is the word of God.
You cannot paraphrase the Bible in your own words
and simplify things, and surely someone's gonna get saved
because the wisdom of my words.
Brethren, I wasted many years of my life
trying to give the gospel to people at work by my own words.
The only salvations, the only people I've ever seen
come to Christ is when I'm able to open this word
because the power is here.
The power is not here, this is the flesh.
The power is here in God's word, the gospel message.
This is it, Moses and the prophets.
Even if they see a miracle of someone
raising from the dead, they're still not going to believe.
But people don't say that.
I believe in Jesus if he just appears right in front of me.
No, you won't.
You won't believe in him.
In fact, we have so many stories in the Bible
where Jesus Christ was literally walking the earth,
literally performing miracles,
and people still did not believe on him.
It's the word of God that saves.
This is the seed.
So I just want to show you that hell is a literal place.
It torments day and night, forever and ever.
Okay?
And they can't escape, that's it.
That's the place they're going to be for all eternity.
Eventually the lake of fire,
we'll cover that topic in a moment, okay?
But the best thing that we could possibly do
for loved ones that are there is to preach the gospel
to the rest of our family and friends, okay?
Now, I want to cover, as I'm going through this,
I want to obviously talk about
misunderstandings of hell as well.
And this misunderstanding is something,
and it's not so much a misunderstanding,
it's just bad terminology that sometimes gets used
when we describe hell.
One thing that I've often heard said,
and I've also said it, so you know,
I'm blaming myself as well,
people often say, well, hell is a place
where you go to pay for your sins.
All right?
A lot of people say that, okay?
You go and pay for your sins in hell.
That's not true.
You don't go pay for your sins in hell.
So that sounds weird.
If you could pay for your sins in hell,
eventually you'll get it paid off,
and then you're out.
No, no, no.
The Bible says in Romans 6 23,
for the wages of sin is death.
Wages of payment.
Hell is not a place where you go and pay for your sins.
Hell is the payment for your sins.
Okay?
You need to understand.
Hell is the payment for your sins.
It's not a place where you go and pay off your sins,
or anything like that.
That again comes from a Roman Catholic idea,
a purgatory place where you go and pay off your sins
in hell, hell fire, a lesser hell fire,
and then once it's paid off, you get out.
Okay?
Hell is the payment for sins.
Now let me say this.
We all deserve to go to hell,
because we're all sinners.
Okay?
We're all sinners.
We all deserve hell.
Even currently in my state of a saved man,
I still deserve hell.
This is where you get the words grace and mercy.
So even though I deserve hell,
what actually sends you to hell
is the rejection of Jesus Christ.
That's what sends you to hell.
If you want to avoid hell,
if you don't want to go to that place,
you'd rather go to heaven.
That's where you should want to go.
Then you need to accept Jesus Christ,
the payment that he's given us.
Okay?
The payment of our sins.
Either Jesus Christ is the payment of your sins,
or hell is the payment of your sins.
It's your decision.
That what sends us to hell is rejecting Jesus Christ.
What delivers us from hell
is receiving Christ as our savior.
This is the grace.
This is the mercy that God has given us.
Okay?
Because again, people think,
well, I don't deserve hell because I'm a good person.
And the more good I do,
the less deserving I am of going to hell.
No, we all deserve hell.
Even the saved man deserves hell.
But God has given you his grace.
God has given you his mercy,
and you've accepted that salvation.
You've accepted that free gift,
that payment of sins in Jesus Christ.
Please come with me to Matthew 11.
Matthew 11, verse 20.
Matthew 11, verse number 20.
Matthew 11, verse 20.
I want to just explain to you now
that there are different levels of suffering in hell.
Obviously, the most wicked of all people,
you know, those that would be pedophiles
and abused little children,
they're gonna suffer in the lowest hell.
Those that have started wars and killed millions of people,
they're gonna be suffering in the lowest hells, okay?
They're gonna be suffering the most in this place.
And we get this story here in Matthew 11, verse 20.
And just to bring you to speed,
Jesus Christ has been going through his ministry,
preaching to different places,
different towns, different cities.
Some people have received him and some have not, okay?
And it says there in Matthew 11, verse 20,
then began he to abrade the cities,
wherein most of his mighty works were done
because they repented not.
See, Jesus Christ is going city to city,
doing amazing miracles,
but some would not receive him.
You know, some would not see him as the son of God,
the savior of the world.
They repented not.
So what about these cities?
Jesus Christ then sees these words, verse number 21.
Woe unto thee, Chorazin.
Woe unto thee, Bethsaida.
For if the mighty works which were done in you
had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
Tyre and Sidon, by the way, are Gentile cities,
they would have repented long ago in Sakloff and Ashes.
Because if I did the same thing at these Jewish cities,
that I did, you know, if I did these same things
in these Gentile cities,
they would have repented a long time ago.
So woe unto you, referring to those cities.
Is this about hell?
Yes, let's keep going.
Verse number 22.
But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you.
See, the Bible does teach tolerance,
but the topic of tolerance is basically
how tolerable hell and judgment's gonna be.
For those in Tyre and Sidon that did not believe in Christ,
their judgment's gonna be more tolerable
than to the cities in Bethsaida and Chorazin or Chorazin
because God did mighty works.
You know, the more light that God gives to some individuals
and the more they reject that light,
their punishment is gonna be more severe.
Verse number 23.
And thou, Capernaum, Capernaum is in Galilee,
which art exalted unto heaven.
Well, they think they are.
They think they're righteous people, exalted unto heaven,
shall be brought down to hell.
For if the mighty works which had been done in thee
had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day.
How wicked was Sodom?
We know Sodom got to a point where God had to destroy it
with fire and brimstone,
where God could not wait any longer
for them to suffer in hell.
He brings hell on earth.
There's gonna be more tolerable for them than for Capernaum.
Then he says in verse number 24,
but I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee.
Now, of course, Christ is speaking, you know, generally.
He's speaking about the certain cities.
We know that within the cities, of course,
many came to Christ, okay?
But when he's putting down these cities,
of course, the majority of them rejected him.
And speaking to those that rejected him, obviously, okay?
That it's gonna be worse for you in hell
than it will be for other places.
And so I'm trying to show you,
the rich man that went to hell, of course, is in torments.
Of course, he's in flames.
Of course, he's got major,
I'm not trying to say that hell
is ever gonna be a holiday for anybody.
I'm not trying to say that.
What I'm trying to say is the more wicked you are,
the more you have rejected the light of Jesus Christ,
the worse it's gonna be for you.
Hell's not gonna be tolerable in any way, shape or form.
Come with me to Matthew chapter eight, please.
Matthew chapter eight.
So we saw that one of the cities
that Christ is speaking against was Capernaum.
And just to show you that, obviously,
not everybody in Capernaum rejected him.
We have this story here in Matthew eight, five.
When he does enter Capernaum,
Matthew chapter eight, verse number five.
This is really interesting, this story.
Matthew eight, verse five, it says,
and when Jesus was entered into Capernaum,
there came unto him a centurion,
that's a Roman centurion, a Gentile, not a Jew, okay?
There came unto him a centurion beseeching him,
and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home
sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
The centurion answered and said, Lord,
I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof,
but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me,
and I say to this man, go, and he goeth,
and to another, come, and he cometh,
and to my servant, do this, and he doeth it.
I mean, this man is speaking to Jesus.
He says, look, I'm a man of authority.
I know that if I just speak words,
those under my authority are going to do what I ask of them.
So what is he saying to Jesus?
Jesus, don't come out,
I'm not worried for you to come into my house.
I know that if you just speak the words,
that you have the authority,
that you have the power to heal my servants.
He's acknowledging the authority of Jesus Christ.
This is a Roman centurion, a non-Jew, okay?
Look at verse number 10.
And I love when I read these verses,
because it says, when Jesus heard it, he marveled.
Can God marvel?
Marvel means being surprised and astonished, wow.
Even Jesus Christ is amazed at the words of this centurion.
And when Jesus heard it, he marveled,
and said to them that followed,
verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith.
No, not in Israel.
Because he's a Roman centurion.
He goes, this Roman centurion has a greater faith
than anybody in Israel.
What a thing to say.
And then he says these words.
Again, thinking of the Roman centurion
in context of Capernaum, which is a Jewish city, okay?
Verse number 11, and I say unto you
that many shall come from the east and west.
He's talking about other nations, okay?
And shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
in the kingdom of heaven.
Again, if anyone tells you the kingdom of heaven
is only for the Jews, just read this passage.
Read it and just believe the Bible.
East and west, Roman centurion, look,
they're gonna come from these places,
they're gonna sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
in the kingdom of heaven.
And then he says these words, verse number 12.
But the children of the kingdom,
this is referring to the Jews,
but the children of the kingdom,
referring to those of Capernaum, okay,
shall be cast into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And I wanna keep repeating this
when we see this in the Bible.
God is not a respecter of persons.
Just because you're physically of Abraham
doesn't mean you're guaranteed salvation,
doesn't mean you're special.
Even Abraham said to the rich ruler,
son, you're in hell because you did not receive Christ.
Jesus Christ is teaching, yes,
those of the children of the kingdom,
the people that should be receivers of the kingdom,
they're gonna be cast into outer darkness,
wailing, the weeping, and the gnashing of teeth.
We saw that referring to hell.
We see that hell is a place of darkness,
a place that cannot be seen, okay?
And I actually believe this outer darkness
is referring to the lake of fire,
which I'll talk about in a moment.
But we can see, look, salvation is available to all.
The kingdom of heaven is available to all,
east and west, doesn't matter.
Romans and Turian, he's got the most faith
in all of Israel.
And of course, Christ gave us his teaching
because he saw the faith of a Gentile.
Say, why do you keep teaching about this, our pastor?
Because most churches teach the opposite.
Like, they teach the Gentiles a plan B.
You just got in, you're lucky.
Jesus Christ is in the middle of his ministry
and he's healing and serving Gentiles.
And he's talking about their great faith.
And he's gonna sit there with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
But the rest of you that rejected me,
we saw that Capernaum as a place
that it's not gonna be tolerable for them in hell
because the majority of those in Capernaum rejected Christ.
You were there in Matthew, come with me to Matthew 25.
Come with me to Matthew chapter 25, Matthew 25.
Come with me to Matthew chapter 25.
People say, I don't believe a loving God
will send anybody to hell.
He is a loving God.
So loving that he sacrificed his son for you.
You go to hell not because he's not a loving God,
you go to hell because you rejected his son.
Reject his son who he loves,
who bore your sins on his body.
Who faced the wrath of God for your sins.
And you said, I don't want that, I can make it on my own.
Yeah, you reject the son, you reject the father.
Yes, of course he's going to cast you into hell.
Instead of believing in a Santa Claus God
that can do no harm, believe in the God of the Bible, please.
Next thing I wanna talk about is the purpose of hell.
Why did God create hell?
See, another misunderstanding that a lot of people have
about hell and the reason they have this misunderstanding
is because they watch too much television,
watch too much cartoons, is they think hell
is the kingdom of the devil.
That maybe the devil Satan has got a throne in hell,
he sits there on his throne, he commands his demons
and when people are cast into hell,
the demons go and torment these people.
No, you don't read that anywhere in the Bible.
No, where in the Bible.
People are tormented by the flame.
They're not tormented by demons and devils, okay.
Hell is not the kingdom of the devil.
And again, why does, and be careful of chick tracks
because that's exactly what they teach.
You read those comics, I read a lot of them growing up
and it gave me the impression that hell is a place
where the devil runs riot, he does whatever he wants
and when souls get cast into hell,
they're there with a pitch fox or whatever,
tormenting people.
No, okay, this is not the kingdom of,
and again, why do people think this?
Because they think how can a loving God
cast people into hell.
I don't wanna think that, therefore I'm gonna think
that hell is a place where the devil torments people.
No, God is the one doing the torments.
I'll show you that in a moment, okay.
But Matthew 25 verse 41, Matthew 25 verse 41,
Jesus Christ says, then shall he say also unto them
on the left hand, depart from me ye cursed
into everlasting fire prepared for the devil
and his angels.
Hell is not prepared for the devil and his angels
in the sense that they're gonna rule there.
No, the everlasting fire is prepared for the devil
and his angels.
God created hell to torment, to punish the devil,
to punish Satan and the angels that have rejected God.
The devil's not gonna frown in hell.
When the devil's in hell, he's gonna be tormented
day and night forever and ever.
He's gonna be tormented in the lowest hells.
He's gonna suffer the most.
He's not ruling and reigning in hell.
He's under the punishment of God.
I'll quickly read to you, Isaiah 14 verse 12.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,
son of the morning?
How art thou cut down to the ground
which didst weaken the nations?
For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven.
I will exert my throne above the stars of God.
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation
in the sides of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.
I will be like the most high.
How prideful is this devil?
And it says, yet thou shalt be brought down to hell,
to the sides of the pit.
No, you don't get to rejoice in heaven.
You're gonna get cast down to hell.
Bible refers to it as the pit.
Many times, sometimes you'll read just the pit.
That refers to the hell.
That's Satan's end.
That's his punishment, hell.
Now Satan's not in hell today.
Satan is as a roaring lion on this earth,
seeking whom he may devour.
Okay, Satan's not just going like back and forth
between hell.
In fact, the book of Job tells us he goes back and forth
between earth and heaven, sometimes.
Sometimes when the Lord God asks for the sons of God
to present themselves, Satan comes along
because he's the accuser of the brethren, as we know him.
But there are some devils in hell right now, actually.
The Bible tells us in Jude six,
and the angels which kept not their first estate,
but left their own habitation,
he have reserved in everlasting chains under darkness
unto the judgment of the great day.
There are some angels in hell right now.
I don't know what the criteria exactly is
for these people, or people,
for these beings to be put into hell,
but they're reserved in everlasting chains
unto the judgment of the great day.
That was Jude six.
Come with me to 2 Peter chapter two.
2 Peter chapter two.
Look, when you understand that hell is not Satan's kingdom,
then passages of the Bible are going to sound
very different to you when you read it again.
One passage that often gets read
when speaking about a church,
well, you turn to 2 Peter chapter two,
because you're very familiar with this passage
I'm gonna read to you.
But Matthew chapter 16 verse 18,
Jesus Christ says these words,
and I say also unto thee, thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church,
then it says these words,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
So the gates of hell will not prevail
against New Life Baptist Church,
or any church of Jesus Christ.
And some people, because they've got this idea
that Satan rules in hell with his throne and all that,
they think that the gates of hell
is referring to the kingdom of Satan.
They say, well, Satan's not gonna prevail against us.
And look, of course he's not gonna prevail against us
because we're saved.
Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
That is a truth.
That's not what the passage is teaching us.
The gates of hell will not prevail against the church
because the church is made up of what?
Saints, believers.
Okay, this means that as believers,
we will never enter into the gates of hell.
Salvation is eternal security.
Once you're saved, you're always saved.
You're never gonna, oh, maybe I messed up.
Maybe I'm going to face hell.
No, the gates of hell shall not prevail.
Okay, praise God for his salvation.
We're never even gonna have to face the gates,
let alone enter in and be tormented.
That's what the passage is teaching us.
Eternal security is what it's teaching us.
Once you're saved, you're always saved.
But I'm saying that because I know there's a lot.
I've heard it many times.
The gates of hell is referring to Satan's kingdom.
No, it's not.
He doesn't rule there.
He's gonna get tormented there.
The angels that are there are reserved in chains right now.
They're not running riots.
They don't own that place.
You're there in 2 Peter 2, verse four.
2 Peter 2, verse number four, it says,
for if God spared not the angels that sinned,
but cast them down to hell
and delivered them into chains of darkness
to be reserved unto judgment.
Does it sound like these angels,
these devils are ruling in hell?
No, they're chained up, okay?
They're chained up.
Now, notice the next words, to be reserved unto judgment.
What I read in Jude six was
unto the judgment of the great day.
There is a judgment that these angels are going to face.
And if you know your Bible, Jesus Christ taught that,
or we're taught that we're gonna judge angels.
That as believers, one day we're gonna judge angels.
Okay, without getting too sidetracked.
Drop down to verse number nine,
2 Peter 2, verse number nine.
Not only are these devils reserved unto judgment
of that great day, but it says in 2 Peter 2, nine,
the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations
and to reserve the unjust
unto the day of judgment to be punished.
You see the unjust, the unsaved, okay?
The Lord is also going to reserve them
unto the day of judgment to be punished.
You see, hell is a place of reservation.
What we know as hell today is a temporary location right now
People are suffering, are being tormented day and night,
but the hell they're in reserve for the day of judgment.
Okay, I want you to understand,
there is gonna be a time when those that have been tormented
are gonna come out of that place of hell,
probably with the impression, oh, I'm out, I made it,
but their faith's gonna be much worse, okay?
So we'll talk about that in a moment,
but I want to show you, yes,
hell was created for the devil and his angels,
but also it's a place where people are held in reserve
for the day of judgment.
And again, we saw it's people that do not trust Christ,
those that rejected the Son of God, okay?
Come with me to John chapter five.
Now, I did preach on John chapter five on Wednesday,
so just a refresher here.
John chapter five or some of 28.
What is this day of judgment?
What are people being reserved for?
Well, in John 5, 28, John 5, 28,
it says, Jesus Christ says,
marvel not at this, for the hour is coming
in the which all that are in the graves
shall hear his voice.
And often we think about this as the rapture
and it is about the rapture, okay?
But Jesus Christ is teaching us
about two types of resurrections, okay?
Verse number 29, and shall come forth,
they that have done good unto the resurrection of life.
And if you remember the teaching on Wednesday,
we saw that that which is good is believing on the Lord,
believing on the one that sent the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith, okay, that is a good thing to do.
If you've done that, you're going to receive,
one day, this resurrection of life,
a new resurrected body of the rapture, okay?
But it says, and they that have done evil,
those that did not believe on Christ,
unto the resurrection of damnation, damned, okay?
This is a resurrection of damnation.
Every single person on this earth
is going to receive a resurrection.
Okay, if you're saved, it's a resurrection of life,
everlasting life, new resurrected bodies
made like unto Jesus Christ.
Others will be resurrected
and receive the resurrection of damnation.
So they are going to come out of their graves, okay?
But it's not a resurrection of life,
it is a resurrection of death, okay?
Just keep that in mind, keep that all in mind
and I'll keep showing you some other passages
that'll make it all make sense to you.
Now, you say, how does that make sense?
Is there a physical resurrection?
Yes, there is, we saw that.
The graves are going to be opened.
But they're still dead, they're still dead.
But don't forget, even when you're dead,
you're still conscious.
You're still aware of what you're going through.
You're still feeling the pains of that fire and torments.
But there will be a resurrection.
So right now, when people die,
their bodies are in the grave.
Those that die without Jesus, let's talk about that.
Their bodies are in the grave, but their souls are in hell.
There is a coming of day when their soul
is going to be reunited with a body, their body,
graves are going to be opened,
and then both soul and body
will be cast into the lake of fire, okay?
Now, this makes sense in light of this passage,
I'll read it to you very quickly, Matthew 10, 28,
which says, actually, you might as well go there
because you're in Matthew, aren't you?
So come with me to Matthew 10, Matthew 10, 28.
Matthew 10, 28, you may recall this verse.
Matthew 10, 28.
Matthew 10, 28 reads,
and fear not them which kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul,
but rather fear him which is able to destroy
both soul and body in hell.
You see, right now, those that have died,
yes, their soul is in hell, but there's a coming of day,
which is the lake of fire,
which is the relocated place of hell,
where both soul and body will be tormented, okay?
Fear him, okay, fear him.
Look, who sends these sinners to,
some people just don't, and I get it, I get,
I'm not having the time of my life right now
preaching on this doctrine.
Like, I'd much rather just preach to you
about salvation or something.
I'd rather much preach about anything else, you know,
honestly, but if we're gonna be true to God's word,
we've got to hear it all.
And so we just don't like the thought,
you know, have you ever heard this?
God does not send anyone to hell.
They send themselves to hell.
No, let's read Matthew 10, 28 again.
And fear not them which kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul,
but rather fear him which is able to destroy
both soul and body in hell.
Who destroys the body and soul in hell?
It's the Lord.
We saw earlier in the parables,
these people are cast into hell fire,
not by the devil, by the Lord.
The Lord is the one doing the destruction in hell.
It's the Lord that rained down fire and brimstone
from heaven and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
These aren't the fires of the devil.
Hell is the fire of the Lord.
It's the anger, it's the wrath of the Lord.
And I'll prove that a little bit further
as we keep going in this passage or in this sermon.
Come with me to Revelation 20, Revelation chapter 20.
Before I read Revelation 20,
I'm going to read to you from the Old Testament,
Daniel chapter 12.
I just want to show you the consistency of the Bible
from Old Testament to New Testament.
Daniel chapter 12 also speaks about
two types of resurrection,
a resurrection of life and a resurrection of damnation.
The Bible says in Daniel 12 one,
and at that time shall Michael stand up,
that's Michael the Archangel,
the great prince which standeth
for the children of thy people.
I want to stop there for a moment.
Who are thy people?
This is the book of Daniel.
Who's the people of Daniel?
You say, what's the Jews?
Let's keep going there.
Which standeth for the children of thy people,
and there shall be a time of trouble,
we know this is the tribulation period,
such as never was since there was a nation
even to that same time,
and at that time thy people,
so thy people Daniel, shall be delivered,
then he says these words,
everyone that shall be found written in the book.
Who are the people of Daniel?
Everyone that is found written in the book.
Are all Jews going to be found written in the book?
Say, what book is this?
We'll talk about it in a moment.
It continues in verse number two.
And many of them that sleep,
or those that have passed on,
many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake.
That sounds like a resurrection.
Some to everlasting life, that's the good one,
and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
That's the resurrection of damnation.
The Bible's consistent from Old Testament to New Testament.
Daniel's people are not those that are resurrected
of everlasting contempt, no.
Daniel's people are not those resurrected
that experience the resurrection of damnation, no.
Daniel's people are those
that experience the resurrection of life.
Those names that are found written in the book.
Okay, come with me to Revelation 20.
You're there already, verse number 11.
Revelation chapter 20, verse number 11.
It's hard for me to read this without getting emotional
because this is the saddest part of the Bible.
Saddest part, okay?
Revelation 20, 11.
And I saw a great white throne,
and him that sat on it,
from his face the earth and the heaven fled away,
and there was found no place for them.
This one that sits on the great white throne,
again, I believe it's Jesus Christ.
If you were here listening to my series on John,
may recall that the Father has committed
all judgment unto the Son.
So I believe, again, it's Jesus Christ
here on this great white throne.
It says in verse number 12, look at this.
And I saw the dead.
This is important, I saw the dead, not the living.
We're dealing with those that have been resurrected
unto damnation.
They don't receive life.
They don't receive everlasting life.
They are still dead.
But again, even though they're dead, they are conscious.
Even though they're dead, they feel torments.
Verse number 12, and I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God,
and the books were opened,
and another book was opened,
which is the book of life,
and the dead, okay, the dead, not the living.
This is not a judgment for you and I.
We have everlasting life.
We've passed from death unto life.
This is not our judgment.
This is a judgment of the dead.
And the dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books according to their works.
Yeah, you wanna be judged by your works?
Then you will be.
You think doing good works is gonna get you saved?
Then you'll be judged by your works.
Verse number 13, and the sea gave up the dead
which were in it.
Okay, there's sailors that died at sea.
Remember, they reunited with their bodies.
Their soul comes out of hell.
They're reunited with that body, okay, a dead body,
and they stand before the Lord for judgment.
The sea gave up the dead which were in it,
and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them.
So there is a brief time when those that are in hell
are gonna come out of hell.
And again, there might be a brief period going,
wow, made it, got out of here.
No, they're coming out to be judged.
And they were judged, every man, according to their works.
Works is not gonna save you.
Then verse number 14.
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death.
Notice that.
Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
Hell is now relocated, okay.
And I don't have the verses here to,
but I believe, and you know,
that hell today is in the middle of the earth,
is the center of the earth, okay.
I wouldn't have time to cover that right now.
A lot of people understand that, you know,
it's found all over the Bible.
But hell gets relocated from the center of the earth
into the lake of fire.
This is the second death.
Look at verse number 15.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire.
That's what we saw in Daniel 12, same thing.
Who are Daniel's people?
Those whose names are found written in the book.
If you're saved, you are Daniel's people, okay.
Who are my people?
I, my mom and dad were Chilean.
Okay, yeah, they migrated here.
Are my people Chileans?
That's my people.
My people are you.
Believers, brothers and sisters in the Lord.
This is my people.
Whether you're Chilean or not Chilean,
whether you're Jew or you're Greek or whatever you are,
it doesn't matter, you're my people.
You're my brother and sister in the Lord.
We're God's people.
Daniel is my people or my person.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob we saw coming from the east
and the west, we're all gonna sit together
in the kingdom of heaven together in fellowship.
Isn't that beautiful?
That's beautiful to me.
I don't know why people keep separating these.
That's the Jews and that's.
The separation is non-believers and believers.
That's the separation.
Rightly divided in the word of truth.
Non-believers that reject Christ,
they're gonna die and go to hell
and they're gonna face a resurrection of damnation
and when they come out,
they're gonna be judged by their works
and their works are not gonna be good enough
and they're gonna be relocated in the lake of fire.
Jew, Gentile, whatever they are,
those that have rejected Christ.
But Jew and Gentile, whoever has received Christ.
Hey, when we go and sleep and we don't die
because we probably use the word sleep.
Yes, our body goes to sleep.
I mean, it's dead.
But you know what?
It's a nice way of saying dead.
It's asleep because one day,
we're gonna come back to those bodies,
it's gonna wake up again
and we're gonna be in the clouds with Jesus Christ
for all eternity
and we experience the resurrection of everlasting life.
Jew, Greek, Chilean, non-Chilean, Australian,
whatever you are,
we are the people of God
and our name's gonna be found written
in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Can we meet to Psalm 139, please?
Psalm 139.
How many people teach that hell is separation from God?
Say pass, but it sounds nice.
Yeah, I know it sounds nice, but it's not in your Bible.
In fact, hell is definitely not the separation of God.
I think people in hell
would prefer to be separated from God
because what I'm gonna show you
is that hell fire comes from God.
It might be better to be separated by God then,
to not suffer that fire.
These fires are from God.
Psalm 139, verse seven.
Look at this.
Psalm 139, verse seven.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
The Psalmist is asking,
God, where can I go away from your presence?
How can I be separated from you, God?
He says in verse number eight,
if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there.
And if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
Oh, hell is the separation of God.
No, God is there.
God is omnipresent.
You cannot escape the presence of God.
Even in hell, you cannot escape the presence of God.
I should have told you to stay in Revelation.
Come with me to Revelation 14.
Revelation 14, verse number nine.
Revelation 14, these are important verses,
might as well just turn to more.
Revelation 14, verse number nine.
Look, I hope you can see in this pastor,
I wanna be as accurate as I can, as biblical as I can.
There's a lot of misconceptions out there.
There's a lot of things.
Hell is the separation of God.
Hell is the, you go to church after church
after church after church, hell is the separation of God.
And then you walk away thinking that must be in the Bible.
No, the reason you hear that over and over again
is because very few pastors actually study the Bible.
I'm being honest with you.
What most pastors do is repeat, repeat, repeat,
parrot, parrot, parrot,
without actually going to God's word
to find out whether it's true.
And again, I'm not a perfect pastor.
And I tell you now, I appreciate all the pastors
that are men of God trying to do the best they can.
I'm trying to do the best I can.
And sometimes I just have to debunk the things
you've heard in other churches,
because I am trying to do the best I can.
Please don't think I just hate, I just love God's word.
I do love it, even when it's uneasy
to preach on certain things.
I love it enough to preach it to you.
I love you enough to preach you what is correct.
And again, I'm not perfect.
You go and read it yourself.
You find out in yourself in the Bible
whether what I'm saying is true.
Revelation 14, verse number nine.
This is about the people that take the mark of the beast
in the end times.
But you'll see their final destinations
will still be the liquefier,
just like anybody else that rejected Christ.
It says in Revelation 14, verse nine,
and the third angel followed them,
saying with a loud voice,
if any man worship the beast and his image,
and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand.
Now this is so important.
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without mixture
into the cup of his indignation.
We're looking at the wrath of God.
The word indignation means extreme hatred.
Look it up in the dictionary.
God has extreme hatred.
God has wrath, is extreme anger.
And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone.
Look at this.
In the presence of the holy angels,
and in the presence of the lamb.
Who is the lamb?
Jesus.
Those that are going to experience everlasting torment,
fire and brimstone.
Guess what?
They are in the presence of the lamb.
They are in the presence of Jesus Christ.
They're facing the wrath, the indignation of God.
This is the part that most churches
don't want to preach about.
We have to believe both.
This is the God of the Bible.
God hates it when you reject his son.
Hell is the very presence of God.
Not for us as believers.
The glory of God, the power of God for us as believers
in our new resurrected bodies
is going to be the most wonderful thing
that we've ever experienced.
But for those that have rejected Christ,
to deal with his glory and his power in hell,
they can't face it.
It's fire and brimstone for them.
It's anguish for them.
Look at verse 11.
And the smoke of their torment.
God is doing the torment.
Do you see that?
The smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever.
And they have no rest day nor night
who worship the beast and his image
and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Forever and ever torment.
You say it's not just.
It's just.
It's hard for us to wrap our heads around it today.
Maybe.
The more you understand how much it costs the Lord
to give you salvation,
the more you understand his hatred and his anger
for those that reject his son.
It might seem unjust to us,
but I promise you in your new resurrected body,
standing before God without the weaknesses of human flesh,
you're going to say to God, God, you are just.
God, you are righteous.
You're doing the right thing, Lord.
My loved one's been tormented day and night
forever and ever, but you're just.
They deserve it, Lord.
And I deserved it.
Thank you for your son.
Thank you for salvation.
Come with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter one.
2 Thessalonians chapter one.
So I'm trying to show you from the Old Testament,
God's presence is in hell.
In the New Testament, those that suffering day and night
forever and ever are in the presence of the lamb,
the presence of Jesus.
I hope that's enough to show you
that hell is not the separation of God.
God is there.
God is very present.
It's his anger that lights the flames of hell.
2 Thessalonians chapter one, verse number eight.
It says, inflaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God
and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God's going to take vengeance, inflaming fire
for those that do not obey the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You see that?
So how do I obey the gospel?
You believe the gospel.
That's the command, to believe the gospel.
That's how you're obedient to the gospel.
Okay, you're disobedient when you say,
I know it, but I'm not gonna believe it.
You obey the gospel.
Those that do not obey,
they're going to face the vengeance of God.
Flaming fire, look at verse number nine.
Who shall be punished?
I want you to notice the next words.
Don't let it miss you.
That who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of his power.
I told you that as believers,
the glory of his power is going to be the most amazing thing
that we get to experience.
To be in the presence of God is going to be joy for us.
But for those that did not obey the gospel,
what do we see again?
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction.
Where does this everlasting destruction come from?
Punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of his power.
Hell fire is the glory of his power.
Hell fire comes from the presence of the Lord.
What lights the fires of hell?
The Lord, the Lord's presence.
It's unbearable for those that suffer
and die and go to hell.
So hell is not the separation of God.
God is presence and the torment
is coming from his presence.
Look, I hope I've seen, you can see,
I've shown you at least three passages,
essentially teaching the same thing, okay?
We just have to, you know,
we just have to reject tradition.
You know, let's go with God's word.
Let's just reject the things that we've heard
that Satan rules and reigns in hell.
No, he's going to be tormented day and night
forever and ever as well and his angels.
In fact, even the first mention of hell,
the very first mention of hell in Deuteronomy 32 22,
I'll read it to you, Deuteronomy 32 22, it says,
the Lord says, for a fire is kindled in mine anger
and shall burn unto the lowest hell.
What is burning the lowest hell?
I'll read it again, for a fire is kindled in mine anger
and shall burn unto the lowest hell
and shall consume the earth with an increase
and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
And the pastor teaches us where hell is located,
the foundations of the mountains inside the earth.
It's God's anger that lights the flames of hell.
Aren't you glad that the gates of hell
shall not prevail against us?
Aren't you glad you're never going to have to enter
those gates ever because you're a believer of Jesus Christ?
Come with me to Psalm 116, I'm almost done.
Thank you for your patience.
Psalm 116, verse number three.
If you're not saved today, I trust you are.
I mean, I've had conversations with pretty much all of you
and I know you're saved, but just in case,
if you have doubts, if you're not sure,
then let the fear of hell, the fear of torments
call you, cause you to come to Christ, okay?
Psalm 116, verse number three.
The psalmist says, the sorrows of hell come past me.
Sorry, the sorrows of death come past me.
And the pains of hell get hold upon me.
I found trouble and sorrow.
There are people that aren't sure.
They've got trouble and sorrow.
They're worried about death, they're worried about hell.
The psalmist says, look, I'm worried about these things.
All right?
So what's the answer?
Verse number four.
Then called I upon the name of the Lord.
Oh Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
Isn't that the truth of God's word?
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
Amazing.
The psalmist says, I'm worried about death,
I'm worried about hell,
so I'm just gonna call upon his name.
I'm gonna trust upon him by faith alone.
I don't wanna be judged by my works.
Drop down to verse number 13.
He says, I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord.
But if you're not sure if you're going to heaven,
why don't you call upon the name of the Lord?
It's a free gift.
Why don't you just go to Jesus Christ and say,
Lord, I know you died for me.
You paid for my sins.
You resurrected from the dead.
And you promised me an everlasting home in heaven.
Yes, Lord, I want that gift.
Thank you, Jesus.
That's it.
It's not magic words.
It's what you believe in your heart.
All right, it's what you believe.
And you say to the Lord, yes, Lord, I want that gift.
Thank you, Lord.
And that's it.
And it's so simple that the majority of this earth
just doesn't want to receive it.
It's so sad.
So sad.
Okay.
And look, if you're saved, you say, well, I'm saved.
Well, how about you have a heart for the lost?
How about you say, you know what?
I don't want them to die and go to hell.
My family, my friends, my loved ones,
my coworkers, my neighbors.
Then you go out there and tell them
what Jesus Christ has done for them
and convince them, provoke them
to call upon the Lord for salvation.
That's the answer.
That's the answer to all of this.
Hell is such a scary place.
Why would you want to be there?
Out of darkness, tormented day and night,
forever and ever, no water, no satisfying of the tongue.
And it's all just already been paid for in Jesus Christ.
God's love.
You have to understand God's hatred and God's anger
to fully appreciate his love,
that he's willing to sacrifice his son for you.
All right, brethren.
In conclusion, on the statement of faith
under hell and the lake of fire,
we're gonna have these words.
We believe that the souls of sinners
who never trusted in Christ Jesus
are cast into a literal hell upon death,
where they remain in torment
reserved unto the day of judgment to be punished.
At the judgment, all who are not found written
in the book of life is then cast into the lake of fire
where hell has been relocated,
a place of everlasting torment.
Okay, let's pray.